Overview
Click to enlarge
(These are minimum guidelines, the more notice given the better)
General Events: 2 weeks in advance
Large scale events: 4 weeks in advance (This is anything that requires a contract signing/is a formal dinner or equivalent. Bear in mind this may need to be longer depending on when payments are due).
Domestic Trips: 4 weeks before travel date
International Tours: 1 Term before travel date (This is equivalent to 10 working weeks. If you are unsure if you can meet this, contact your coordinator before the 10-week deadline).
Balls: 1 term before proposed date (This is equivalent to 10 working weeks. If you are unsure if you can meet this, contact your coordinator before the 10 week deadline.) Please note, a Ball is an event that has a meal, music/DJ at an external venue.
External speakers: 21 days before the speaker event (please note if this is for a Conference the event pack needs to be approved before this).
Please note: If your event needs to be sent to our insurances for approval (high risk events), then this may result in a delay of your event pack being approved. Please ensure you submit this with enough time to allow for this.
Charity events are treated the same as normal events in terms of planning packs. The charitable aspect of your event should be organised directly between your club/society and the charity you're working with.
Visit this page for some advice or contact your Student Activities (Societies or Sports) team for further help.
For charity events using Warwick Sport Facilities – Sports Clubs, please see tab Sports Club – Events with Warwick Sport Facilities. For Societies this works the same as a normal charity event.
You do not need to submit an event planning pack for a BBQ on campus, however you do need to:
- Send your coordinator a confirmation of your space booking from the University, prior to the event.
- Give your coordinator an FYI of how much you plan to spend (to help make reimbursements easy).
- Cover the risks within your annual risk assessment in your handover pack (if this is not done, you will need to complete a risk assessment).
DO NOT SIGN ANY CONTRACTS or confirm details until the event has been approved by your Sports/Societies Coordinator.
You should send the contract to your Societies/Sports Club coordinator who can sign on your behalf so that no individual members have to take on legal or financial responsibility - and therefore risk - for any of the elements involved in the event. On no account should you sign any legal document, contract or commitment yourself as this would leave you individually liable if anything were to go wrong.
Due to Health and Safety, no homemade food can be part of any events. If you are having an external caterer, this needs to be approved by the SU, with at least 3 weeks notice. Please contact your coordinator to discuss further and see the guidance here - Food guidance for events.
Events on the Piazza can be booked and approved by the Piazza Bookings team here: Piazza & Benefactors Place booking form.
You don’t need to submit a planning pack to your coordinator, but you should let them know if you are planning on spending any Society/Sports Club money so they can approve.
Piazza Big Screen: Please note that this is run by the University rather than the SU. Contact details, specifications and submission info can be found online here.
SU Website
You can set up your own internal article to display to your members when they log in by following these steps:
- Log into the SU website (www.warwicksu.com) and click the 'Admin' (cogs) tab;
- Select your club/society under 'Organisations' (you must be an exec member to do this);
- Click on 'News Admin' and select 'Add News Article'.
- Upload all relevant content (images, event description etc) and save.
- Note: Please make sure the box marked 'Allow Non-Members to Read' has been unticked before you save your news article.
Student Media
RaW 1251AM (Radio Warwick)
RaW, the student radio station, also offers on air advertising to clubs. You can contact them at marketing@radio.warwick.ac.uk for details of special student rates.
Student Cinema
Offers publicity opportunities on either the big screen, their LCD screens or in their booklet. They are also happy to host joint screenings if arranged sufficiently far in advance. More information is available here.
The Boar Student Newspaper
Offers full, half, and quarter page ads at hugely discounted prices to clubs. Email sales@theboar.org
Spending Club/Society Money
Please make sure you have read and understood the Guidelines & Rules for spending Club/Society Money. If they are not followed your event may be impacted.
General Event Planning / Things to Consider
If you are unsure of anything please contact your Societies / Sports Coordinator!
The FAB
- If your society is hosting a conference in the FAB, you may want to book one of the foyer areas. To book, follow this link: FAB Event Space Bookings
Piazza
Societies hosting conferences will need to confirm their proposed conference date in term 3 of the academic year prior to the conference. This is a first come, first served process. We will ensure to avoid society date clashes unless all dates are filled, and clashes are unavoidable. If this is the case, we will liaise with all societies involved.
Please note that we cannot confirm your date until the University timetable has been confirmed over the summer.
Please send your proposed date to caitlin.todd@warwicksu.com
External Speakers – 21 day deadline
Please refer to this page for guidance on the external speaker process: External speakers.
All external speaker forms must be submitted with a minimum of 21 days notice before the event. This is a University deadline so we have no flexibility with it.
If you are intending on photographing your event, please ensure that notices are clearly displayed in areas where photography will be taking place.
Planning Pack
When do you need an Event Planning Pack?
General events:
As a general guideline, if the answer to any of the following questions is "yes" then you will need to complete an Event Planning Pack.
- Will tickets be sold for the event?
- Will Society/Sports Club funds need to be spent to subsidise the event?
- Will the planned activities have any potential safety issues?
- Are there contracts to be signed?
The planning pack has 3 initial elements:
- Event plan and facility request form
- Fill this out for ALL events, only fill in the facility section if Warwick Sport Facilities are required.
- You should also send your provisional contract for us to check and sign on your behalf.
- Risk Assessment
Please do not delete any rows. You can add to rows and add new rows where relevant to your event.
- Financial Planner
And 3 additional elements depending on the event:
- Tickets (If tickets are required on the SU website)
- Create the event on the SU Website (Guide)
- Make sure that the display date of your event is at least as long as you want the tickets up for
- Fill out the Ticket Request Form
- Trip Leader and Trip Registration Form (For EVERY trip/tour, submitted MINIMUM 48 hours before the event, can be submitted whenever you know all attendees)
- This should be EMAILED to your coordinator (not posted on teams)
- You can collect this information via online form. However, you have to make it clear that clicking submit is giving permission for the information to be shared with the SU/University. If you do this you don't need to collect signatures in person.
- Accident/Near Miss Form
- Submitted via email if an accident or near miss occurs at an event
How to submit your planning pack?
Societies
Email all relevant documents to your coordinator.
Your coordinator will then be in touch to advise on any amendments, or to approve the event.
Once your event has been approved, you can create your event page on the SU website, and submit your ticketing form for us to upload your tickets onto. (Please note: all tickets must go through the SU website, no external ticketing platforms can be used).
Sports Clubs
For any events without Warwick Sport Facilities, submit planning pack and all relevant documents on your club's teams channel and tag @eventrequest
Trips & Tours
Please note:
- All attendees must be 18+
- Tours CANNOT be subsidised with Society or Sports Club money. These are classed as standalone events and should be financially viable through ticket sales only (or sponsorship, stating it can be used for this specifically).
- Non-members are not covered under SU insurance for the Society activity of any sort.
Tour Planning / Things to Consider
Domestic Tours - 4 weeks (Please note that if payments are required early, then the deadline may need to be longer to take this into consideration as tickets can only be uploaded once an event planning pack has been approved).
International Tours - A term before (10 weeks approx) (ie. if your tour was planned for term 2 week 4, you would need to submit your planning pack by term 1 week 4).
If you are planning on booking any coaches, these are the companies that the SU works with.
International Tour Advice
- Travel insurance - All Participants are responsible for purchasing their own travel insurance. The insurance provider that is used by most Students' Unions is Endsleigh insurance as they are experienced in working with student groups.
- Non UK students - The Exec/Trip Leader are advised to provide sufficient notice and information for all Non UK students to allow time, should they be required to apply for a VISA.
- Events and balls should break even. Balls require security present.
- For International Trips/Tours, the Government website is an easy place to go:
- ABTA also has a good general advice section:
Planning Pack
The planning pack has 3 initial elements:
- Event plan and facility request form
- Fill this out for ALL events, only fill in the facility section if Warwick Sport Facilities are required.
- You should also send your provisional contract for us to check and sign on your behalf.
- Risk Assessment
Please do not delete any rows. You can add to rows and add new rows where relevant to your event.
- Financial Planner
And 3 additional elements depending on the event:
- Tickets (If tickets are required on the SU website)
- Create the event on the SU Website (Guide)
- Make sure that the display date of your event is at least as long as you want the tickets up for
- Fill out the Ticket Request Form
- Trip Leader and Trip Registration Form (For EVERY trip/tour, submitted MINIMUM 48 hours before the event, can be submitted whenever you know all attendees)
- This should be EMAILED to your coordinator (not posted on teams)
- You can collect this information via online form. However, you have to make it clear that clicking submit is giving permission for the information to be shared with the SU/University. If you do this you don't need to collect signatures in person.
- Accident/Near Miss Form
- Submitted via email if an accident or near miss occurs at an event
How to submit your planning pack?
Societies
Email all relevant documents to your coordinator.
Your coordinator will then be in touch to advise on any amendments, or to approve the event.
Once your trip/tour has been approved, you can create your event page on the SU website and submit your ticketing form for us to upload your tickets onto. (Please note: all tickets must go through the SU website, no external ticketing platforms can be used).
Sports Clubs
Submit your planning pack to your Club’s Teams channel and tag @tripstoursballs
Your Coordinator will be in touch to advise on any amendments, or to approve the event.
Once your trip/tour has been approved you can create your event page on the SU website and submit your ticketing form for us to upload your tickets onto.
Balls
Please note:
- All attendees must be 18+
- The SU does not book venues on your behalf. More information below.
Ball Planning / Things to Consider
All planning packs need to be submitted at least a term before the ball. I.e. if the ball is planned for term 2 week 4 you would need to submit your planning pack by term 1 week 4.
- Contracts
- Do not sign any contracts yourself, send them to your coordinator to check and sign on your behalf. Otherwise, you will personally be liable for any losses etc.
- Minimum Numbers
- This is the minimum number of people that you will be liable to pay for, regardless of how many tickets you sell.
- Agree a lower minimum number than expected for your contract. It’s must easier to adjust upwards than downwards and you don’t want to owe excess money to the venue.
- Everyone must purchase a ticket, including exec.
- Security is required if you have more than 100 people. We can book security for you if you ask, or you can book via the venue.
- Wait for approval from your coordinator before you spend any money or reimbursement is not guaranteed. You will also not be reimbursed if you haven’t brought in enough money to cover the cost from tickets.
- You can add extras as you go along. If you are on track to make a surplus you can add things like photobooths later on.
Once you have considered what you may want from a venue, you need to contact one!
Do you require transport, food, alcohol, bad weather contingencies, accommodation deposits?
Will cost to members be reasonable while still covering the cost of the ball?
If you need some ideas for possible venues feel free to reach out to your coordinator.
Planning Pack
The planning pack has 3 initial elements:
- Event plan and facility request form
- Fill this out for ALL events, only fill in the facility section if Warwick Sport Facilities are required.
- You should also send your provisional contract for us to check and sign on your behalf.
- Risk Assessment
Please do not delete any rows. You can add to rows and add new rows where relevant to your event.
- Financial Planner
And 3 additional elements depending on the event:
- Tickets (If tickets are required on the SU website)
- Create the event on the SU Website (Guide)
- Make sure that the display date of your event is at least as long as you want the tickets up for
- Fill out the Ticket Request Form
- Trip Leader and Trip Registration Form (For EVERY trip/tour, submitted MINIMUM 48 hours before the event, can be submitted whenever you know all attendees)
- This should be EMAILED to your coordinator (not posted on teams)
- You can collect this information via online form. However, you have to make it clear that clicking submit is giving permission for the information to be shared with the SU/University. If you do this you don't need to collect signatures in person.
- Accident/Near Miss Form
- Submitted via email if an accident or near miss occurs at an event
How to submit your planning pack?
Societies
Email all relevant documents to your coordinator.
Your coordinator will then be in touch to advise on any amendments, or to approve the event.
Once your trip/tour has been approved, you can create your event page on the SU website and submit your ticketing form for us to upload your tickets onto. (Please note: all tickets must go through the SU website, no external ticketing platforms can be used).
Sports Clubs
Submit your planning pack to your Club’s Teams channel and tag @tripstoursballs
Your Coordinator will be in touch to advise on any amendments, or to approve the event.
Once your trip/tour has been approved you can create your event page on the SU website and submit your ticketing form for us to upload your tickets onto.
Sports Club Events with Warwick Sports Facilities
See the general process in the flow chart below. You can find the planning pack documents in the General Events tab at the top of this webpage.
Click to enlarge
Warwick Sports Facilities
Events
Charity Events
- For charity events using Warwick Sport Facilities, please click here for the guidelines.